1.3 Brainstorming
Before you can pick a great topic, you need raw material to choose from. That’s what brainstorming is for — surfacing the stories, values, and details that could become the heart of your essay.
Below are six of my favorite exercises, broken into two phases: first generate a lot of raw material, then look for patterns in what came up. Each one takes just a few minutes.
Get as much raw material on paper as you can
“I Love + I Know”
Spend a few minutes making two lists: things you love, and things you know a lot about (or could geek out on). The crossover is gold — that’s often where your most authentic essay topics live.
Examples: “I love the way clean laundry smells.” “I know college essays.” “I love my grandmother’s pupusas.” “I could geek out on free throw form.”
Here’s a video of me doing it:
Essence Objects
Essence objects are tangible things that represent memories, moments, relationships, or values that are important to you. The goal is to come up with 10, briefly noting why each one is meaningful.
A few questions to spark ideas:
- What’s an object that reminds you of home?
- What’s a food that reminds you of your family?
- What’s hanging on your bedroom walls?
- What’s in your bag right now? Anything that’s always there?
- What will you save for your child someday?
The workbook has 15 more questions to get you started.
Random Questions
Spend a few minutes answering whichever of these questions catch your attention. Skip around. Don’t overthink it — the surprises often come from the questions you almost skipped.
- What is / are your actual superpower(s)?
- What’s your favorite story to tell?
- What would you tell your younger self?
- What does your inner voice tell you?
- If the zombie apocalypse came tomorrow, what particular skill(s) would you use to survive?
The workbook has the full list.
Career
Name a career (or several) you’re interested in. Then name 4–7 qualities or values you possess that will make you great in that career — or qualities of “the ideal person” in that career.
For example:
Look at what came up and see what stands out
These two exercises help you spot the themes, values, and identities running through your brainstorming. You’ll start to see what matters most — which makes picking a topic in the next lesson much easier.
Values
Pick your top 10 values from a list of about 100 (things like curiosity, family, creativity, community). Then narrow down to your top 5, then your top 3. The values you can’t bear to cut are often the heart of your essay. The full word bank is in the workbook.
Roles & Identities
Beyond the usual ways we describe identity (race, gender, religion), there are dozens of roles you play in your life — storyteller, peacemaker, problem-solver, builder, dreamer. Pick the 10 you identify with most, then write 2–3 ways you embody each one. The full list is in the workbook.
Want more brainstorming ideas?
Here are 7 ways to generate ideas for your personal statement in about 25 minutes.
All six exercises take about 30–40 minutes total — and they’ll save you hours later. Pop open the workbook and run through them before moving on.